ET Shoulder Mount (RED)

OK, I've had the Element Technica shoulder mount for 2 days now, I'm using it with a RED, which it was designed for, but it could be used with any camera.

So far I've used a RED and an Arri shoulder mount and have been having great difficulty, they were unstable and uncomfortable. The ET has, as I said on set today, made me as happy as a pig in shit.

It can be adjusted for curve and tilt of shoulder, hey! We're not all members of the master race and perfectly square, some of us have shoulders that droop down and curve inwards. I can compensate for my deformities with the ET mount!

I finished today and realised that my back didn't ache, I know, I've insisted that all low angle hand-held is done with CF cards and primes but even so, I've been hand-held on my shoulder for most of the day with the usual array of trash attached to the camera and I don't hurt!

This is the first day I've been able to say this in five weeks.

Run don't walk to ET and get one!

Oh and I've found out how to screw up their hard drive shock mounts, just cover the camera in a plastic bag whilst it's on a car mount and then drive at over 100Kph. The plastic then wraps around the drive and stops the shocks from working. Lost frames are us. Of course if the RED didn't have so many ways for water to get in to it I wouldn't have to wrap it in a plastic bag!!

Oh and I've broken my second ET breakout box, people standing on cables as I run down the street has a great effect on the cables, sockets and my shoulder and temper!

Cheers

Geoff Boyle FBKS
Cinematographer
CML
22 Exeter Road
Dawlish
Devon
EX7 0AG
UK +44 (0)207 193 3546
US +1 818 574 6134
Sweden +46 (0)739 884496
Skype geoff.boyle

Geoff Boyle wrote :

> OK, I've had the Element Technica shoulder mount for 2 days now, I'm using it with a RED, which it >was designed for, but it could be used with any camera.
> ...
> Run don't walk to ET and get one!

Geoff,

>
I don't see the shoulder mount when I look on their website here :

http://www.elementtechnica.com

Is the shoulder mount perhaps too new to be on their website? Am I just blind?

I'm cc'ing ET's Chris Burket, whom I don't know, in case he or one of his colleagues can better answer the question...cause a good shoulder mount for RED would be a good thing...

Thanks,

Jim Feeley
Producer, journalist, mixer
Near San Francisco USA

> I don't see the shoulder mount when I look on their website here:

I think a have or even the prototype, if it is then just go ahead and build it guys!

Forget the end stops we talked about for the handles, they need to come out in some circumstances.
Oh yes, forgot to mention that the handles rotate to odd angles as well.

Yes, I have got them at odd angles, I guess I'm just not perfect.

Cheers

Geoff Boyle FBKS
Cinematographer
CML
22 Exeter Road
Dawlish
Devon
EX7 0AG
UK +44 (0)207 193 3546
US +1 818 574 6134
Sweden +46 (0)739 884496
Skype geoff.boyle

>
I have been using prototype ET shoulder mounts for several months now and they are excellent and have held-up very well in the field. They are a very worthwhile addition to anyone's Red package and have definitely saved my back a lot of undue strain.

>
I've found that ET's Ultra Rods or Red's Carbon Rods and the Viewfactor Start / Stop button are also quite complementary to a comfortable hand-held experience. At the recommendation of a fellow-DP, I also bought an IDX V-Mount battery belt adaptor and had a custom cable made to take additional weight off.

>
Cheers,

Rob Polgar
DP / VFX DP
Lynx Pictures
Los Angeles
Presently in India

Hi Geoff,

We're glad to hear the Hand Held Rig is working out. The rig you're using is the final pre-production unit. It contains over 80% production parts. We are currently machining and finishing the final <20% and are only a couple weeks away from having a significant quantity of production units available for purchase through our web site.

Anyone who is interested can sign up for e-mail notifications on the contact page of our site

http://www.elementtechnica.com/contact/

>
The next email that goes out will concern our V-Dock AKS mounting system which includes our shock isolated drive mount, hopefully in the next day or so. Info on the hand held rig will follow that by another week.

Stephen Pizzo
Element Technica
Los Angeles, CA
310.913.5251